Dionysus Park (game level)
Sitemap '--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --''' '''Dionysus Park Level Map Expansion : '--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --' Another Level Map expanded for the MMORPG to its full extent (not only what we are allowed to see in the solo game). --- --- --- The entry Airlock was reoriented to match clockwise change in orientation of the Sirens Alley map (Atlantic Express Route now enters from West (as would be logical on line running to Fontaine Futuristics from Paupers Drop). But to match the Dionysus Park Map it must make an L bend into the station there (actually swings out northwards to curve South into the station on the east side of Dionysus -- to avoid buildings and a ridiculously sharp curve). It will turn back East at some point beyond to head towards the Fontaine Futuristics station. Sinclair's Traincar should be pointing South then (instead of North as seen in BS2). The parallel (lower level) second AE line comes in to a second Train Station (added) and the track then proceeds North to a different destination. That line has an enclosed track section between Sirens Alley and Dionysus (which is flooded in BS2 and most likely inoperable or was decommissioned when the Mk2 track conversion was done -- replaced by a Mk2 line that heads north towards Farmers Market). The (huge) Atlantic Express Mk2 replacement Station (compare its size with the other two stations - in its entirety is about 500 feet long (2/3 of it is the track airlocks) and can accommodate double cars of the much larger second generation Mk2 Traincars. The Station was in place before Lamb's Dionysus Park existed. The DP site was previously a large Cement Plant used to make cement for much of the City's construction (and for most of the 'Outer Rapture' communities.) A great deal of AE Freight was shipped from this plant throughout Rapture and beyond (millions of tons of cement - running the plant and trains night and day for more than 5 years). After the Cement Plant was shut down and the site modified/rebuilt to Lamb's specifications, the trains continued to run thru (mostly Freight traffic by that later time). Like several previous levels, Dionysus Park is a sprawling complex of squat buildings (except for the small 6-story semi-high-rise) and some false fronts of about that height. Lamb probably had wanted something more impressive/spectacular, but by that time the supply of Ryanium (needed for taller/more graceful thin-walled buildings) was used up, and the City closed off from the Surface. So the architects (Wales Brothers) had to resort to more mundane reinforced-concrete for the Park's construction/rework. Various rich benefactors also wanted THEIR contribution (galleries) made separated from the others. --- Sinclair, in the game at Dionysus, says he has found another Traincar (to replace the one hit by the torpedo -- 'leaking air' -- not quite - more like water spewing IN at 280 psi - must've been a small leak or it would have been !Adios Sinclair ). Not sure how he could arrange this replacement (especially with Poole in the control booth), but we really don't know what assets Sinclair controls (what minions he has left - maybe he bought-off Poole to route a replacement unit into the Train Station and remove the damaged one, but didn't have a sufficient payoff to get him to unlock the train route). Maybe the game should have had Poole ask to go with you (if you didn't kill him). He could stay in the car with Sinclair. So then metaphorically he could become the Cowardly Lion (Dorothy Eleanor, Tin Woodsman Delta, Scarecrow Sinclair, Wicked Witch-o-West Sofia Lamb, ... Would Gil Alexander be the Wizard ??? --- IGNORE THE MAN INSIDE THE BIG TUBE THINGEE!!!! ) Interesting idea for the MMORPG - recreating "Scenes from BioShock Games that you would Like to Have Seen". Small vignettes (or a whole sequence encompassing the whole game's "decisions") with somewhat modified dialog and outcomes (they could have Contests for these, including the most amusing/comical). Poole begging to be taken along after he learns that Sofia knows he killed everyone in Dionysus all those years ago ... (Though, you would think that he could just grab another Traincar for himself (how else did he get there ??), but maybe he wants a 'bodyguard' and a seat in Sinclair's "Lifeboat".). Again, Imagination would be the essence (and success) of this MMORPG Game, designed to allow easy expression of players Imagination. Too bad the game companies didn't start working on something like it 10 years ago or we might have had such a system by now. It might have been interesting to have imaginative Titles on all the various ruined 'artworks' in Dionysus Park and elsewhere (they would read like the sign text 'art subtitles'). Much amusement could be had upon the 'artists' who create and the 'critics' who endorse such preposterous/ridiculous rubbish much of the time. The ones like in Imago Fine Arts that are fully damaged/obscured could have had very bizarre titles to make you wonder what they originally looked like. "Cat with Toast", "Enlightenment Squared", "How I Love/Hate Thee My Rubbish", "Blue Marble's Parade", "Dung-Beetle in Ryan's Coffee", "Checkmate Lozenge", "Not A Painting", "Rapture's Bets and Brutus", "Ice Tea Submarine", "Silence of the Lamb", "Infinity Rollercoaster", "Schrodinger's Cat is Dead", "Purple Unicorn Continuum", "Silent Shriek", "Cubist Cincinnatus", "Cohen Unchained",etc... To live up to the 'center of art' function for Dionysus Park, the Triton Theater had a whole Film Storage/Making facility (vault/editing/darkrooms/preview-theater) added to take up some of the excess space in that building. Their Film Festivals must have rivaled ... (actually why would a real film-maker ever come to Rapture ?) ... rivaled nothing of note, just the usual product of people who thought they could make art in the form of films. --- Looking out the window of the Piano bar, : * You see on the right a many windowed 'tall' (14-story ) building which would, if whole, overlap onto the Carousel level section - it has to be a false-front 'artwork', with some social 'artsy' relevance or somesuch (or just is poor placement by a Developer making the game). * To the left you see a similar building (also 14-story), but it is elevated above the Dionysus Park levels, and sits ontop of it. Maybe it was for Lamb's "artists colony" ... * Straight ahead you see some kind of incomplete twisted building-like 'artwork' - two of them (perhaps these are left over from the cement plant, as there are 3 more that you can see out the windows of the 'Basement Storage' when you first enter the level). So, to fit the view, I added to the Map the high-rise building that sits over Cohen's Collection as a Residence area for Lamb's "workers" that she is cultivating. It is really only 6 stories tall, as its exterior is an illusion with tiny fake windows making it look like it is 14 stories tall. That other visible 'building' is a false front, and I would leave it as an 'artwork' -- perhaps some animation effects to make it 'Rapture Burning' or some such thing to annoy Ryan. I noticed alot of full booze bottles in Dionysus Park. If it really was flooded then the environment would have reached Ocean pressure, and those bottles would be crushed. Ditto for the odd potato-chip bag and possibly canned goods (anything with an air pocket). The Jukebox, projector (Heh, shown running ...), etc ... not necessarily crushed, but electrical things and most mechanisms don't like getting immersed in water (particularly salt/sea water). Many ordinary utility items in Rapture (lights/ventilation/vending machines) would be designed for damp/wet/immersion environments-- but a jukebox? What a mess it would be after 7+ years soaking in sea water. I can see why the tickets for the upper seats in the Triton theater were so cheap - you sit in them and you can only see half the screen down on the stage. Perhaps with the typical type of 'art' film that would be shown there, that might not be so unfortunate after all.. It was odd for Sofia Lamb to NOT drain/recover Dionysus Park years previously, particularly when it was needed for the important Atlantic Express route traversing her domain (if not for being 'a significant part of her life' that she claims in a radio message). The damage that Stanley Poole did to flood the 'Park' years before would still be there, and would have to be repaired by Divers before Dionysus Park could be drained successfully -- starting pumps from Sirens Alley would not have been enough. Maybe a kindly Big Daddy happened by and spotted the 7 year old work-order to repair it, and had finished JUST as we coincidentally come on the scene needing it drained out. --- "Line 47 South East Branch" -- again an indicator of a much larger Atlantic Express system... This map has 3 train stations (one likely long abandoned, was replaced in ~1950 by one for the Improved AE System Project - originally put there to better service the massive cement processing plant that once was on the site. Leaving the third 'Short Line' route (Station) we are riding on to our BS2 destiny. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Why do these (my) maps show a architecture that is so cumbersome/bulky/monolithic ?? Besides avoiding the boring repetitiveness of high-rise floor plans.... (and endless stair climbing). Conditions at 600 feet down (deeper than most common Real World submarines go) have an outside sea water pressure higher than inside an old-time locomotive boiler -- AND that pressure is pushing in upon the entire surface of every single building in Rapture. So to hold up under that severe condition, the buildings have to be built like squat fortresses, with massively thick walls/ceilings/floors/windows. These buildings are permanent, they are not some vehicle that comes and goes from a difficult environment and can be specially serviced in between trips, or recalled when something starts to go wrong. The buildings have to be overbuilt and robust enough to last for decades with little maintenance and constructed to avoid any failure that can quickly lead to instant fatalities. Simple solid concrete (when you take care to do it correctly) has great strength, in compression. Built up in dimensional thickness/depth it can transfer those surface pressure forces to the seabed and opposing walls/floors. At some structural points, the forces are as tension/shear, and that is where the reinforcement (as in 'reinforced concrete') comes in, with a high tensile strength material embedded in the concrete's matrix. Materials like Steel bars/rods (preferably corrosion resistant, in Rapture's case), and Ryanium fibers/wires (much cheaper than that clear window type Ryanium) add the needed tensile strength that distributes forces throughout the entire mass. Actually, if Lamb had wanted some large impressive interior space, digging DOWN would have been the answer. The seabed rock, if solid, would form it own thick wall structure. Many of Raptures farms are underground to take advantage of this type of construction's lower expense. Of course, the right kind of solid rock would be required and Rapture being build ontop of an ancient volcano, means layers of the right kind of bedrock are not always where you need them. Plain flat concrete sides for most of the building -- is not that big an issue as few people would see Dionysus from the outside (Big Daddies are not known for their aesthetic sense). It is dark outside and unless Lamb did some exterior effects for the few Submarine conveyed 'rich' patrons, there would be little point for any extensive outside decorations of the main structure. Where there are windows (and lights), or the approach to the Submarine Dock, then some kind of artwork might be done nearby. There is more than enough interior exhibiting space. --- Playing thru this level, I found that I could turn Imago Fine Arts into "The Tomb of the Unknown Big Daddy" by hacking all the Security devices (particularly the Scanners), and then after you finish the main plot (Stanley opens the AE Control Booth door for you), the spawns are restarted and you can get a continuous stream of Daddies to lure in and play 'Catch me if you can' with the mad BDs while the Security Fly-bots kill them for you. You can wrack up the CASH and get all your Research done on both Big Daddies and Security Fly-bots (the Daddies destroy lots of those). The BioShock MMORPG (my version, anyway) wont have such loopholes, as the enemy inhabitants are more finite (and you don't have to worry about local Nasties quickly respawning ontop of you, as they often do in many of the existing mind-dead MMORPG games). --- --- --- 'Dionysus Back from the Dead ... : ' Interesting that the Securis doors in Dionysus Park continue to operate even though they had been submerged for 7+ years (They really built those things !! ) Hydraulically activated doors most probably (Don't believe that later DLC stuff about comp-u-ters opening them automatically for you). The lights work pretty good too, but electricity IS generally a bit touchy about getting wet, and Rapture Electrics are probably all in well sealed conduits (and having most of them survive in Dionysus, under those conditions, is a good sign for the Electric Systems throughout the rest of Rapture). Those barnacles and Bioluminescent Weeds growing inside are a bit odd (including in sealed rooms). But then deteriorating wood/wallpaper/upholstery to supply nutrients and with the heat still on, it might be a biological paradise compared to the cold ocean outside. --- --- --- . .